The picture on this page illustrates the process of scanning patterns
from photos of clouded leopards. By fitting a 3D surface model
to the image our programs capture a pattern that is unaffected by the camera
angle or posture. They then go on to compare the new pattern with previous
patterns stored in a library and display the most likely matches. Suitable
images may be from researchers or tourists and the resulting database of
match results can be used to provide the usual benefits of mark/recapture
studies: monitoring of population size and other parameters, determining
the fate of individual animals, encouraging cooperation between different
research groups. The programs will also match images of a live animals to
images of skins and can thus be used to help in tracing their origin.

To try out the software first unzip the following
"clouded_leopard_demo_folders.zip" file to your c: drive, where it
will make a "c:\clouded_leopard_demo\" folder with a number of subfolders
containing sample images and pattern extracts. The
"c:\clouded_leopard_demo\" folder will also contain an Access database called
"clouded_leopard_demo.mdb" and a "Usage_notes.pdf" explaining the process
of entering new images, extracting patterns from those images and comparing
the patterns to the library in order to search for earlier images of the
same animal.

Then open the "ExtractCompare_install.zip" file and double-click the "setup.exe"
program. Please answer "yes" to retain any files that would otherwise
be overwritten by older files.

When installation is complete click on "ExtractCompare" in the programs list
or the "Extract/Compare" button in the "leopard_demo.mdb" database.
Then please follow the steps in "Getting started" section of
the "Usage_notes.doc" document to see how the sytem is run to search a catalogue
for matches to a new photograph and to test its performance.
Please do not add, delete or rename any files or folders in the
"c:\clouded_leopard_demo\" folder except for those in the
"c:\clouded_leopard_demo\download_photos" folder, which is used to hold new
photographs that are to be added to the system.